America’s Land Auctioneer
Captivate and celebrate the dynamics of rural America, American Agriculture and inspire and teach others how to live a bold and abundant life in rural America. Background: The intrigue, endless opportunities, and romance of rural life in America have never been more on the minds of Americans. The recent pandemic and civil unrest have Americans of all ages earning for a more peaceful, less hectic life. Even billionaire Bill Gates is now the largest crop landowner in America. As many Americans look for peaceful refuge in the rolling hills and wheat fields they are faced with a richness of opportunities. But where do you begin to look? This show will highlight and feature endless opportunities in every state. What is it that is so unique about rural America, the land and what it produces? How can I live that life? The American Land Auctioneer will tell stories and weave into those stories a place for you to dream, live and enjoy the abundance of all that rural America has to offer.
America’s Land Auctioneer
Sipping into the New Year with Trends and Transitions
The latest episode reflects on the holiday spirit and the exciting transformations coming to Pifers Auction and Realty as they celebrate their 25th anniversary. Maurice and Carolyn Covington discuss skiing experiences, new hosts joining the show, wine trends for the New Year, and invite listener engagement for upcoming topics.
• Discussion of holiday experiences and family bonding
• Pifers celebrates 25 years with various planned events
• Introduction of new hosts for diverse perspectives
• Focus on sparkling wine and affordable alternatives
• Encouragement for listeners to suggest future topics and guests
Follow at www.americalandauctioneer.com and on Instagram & Facebook
Contact the team at Pifer's
Welcome to America's Land Auctioneer. I am your guest host today, Maurice Covington, and I'm joined by my lovely wife, Carolyn Covington.
Speaker 3:Hey guys, it is so great to be back on the radio and on the podcast.
Speaker 2:It is awesome to be back. It's been a while since we've been on the show.
Speaker 3:It has been a little bit of a while. Yeah, I know I'm like. Wait, I need to get back into my podcasting voice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, we're fresh off Christmas.
Speaker 3:Speaking properly. You know it's getting back into the groove of things. Happy Christmas.
Speaker 2:Happy Merry Christmas. Hope everybody had a great Christmas and a great holiday with your family and friends.
Speaker 3:Happy almost New Year.
Speaker 2:Almost New Year. That's true Next week, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's. We are kind of right in that weird time of year where we just finished Christmas, new Year's is coming up and New Year's falls on what like a Tuesday or a Wednesday this year, I think.
Speaker 2:well, New Year's Eve is on Tuesday.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the break is so long. You know, we got the full week off for Christmas and then most people are off for a full week for the New Year's.
Speaker 2:It's just the best time of year.
Speaker 3:It's the best.
Speaker 2:Everybody's so happy and jolly and it's cold and it's snow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, speaking of snow, I got to finally see some I know well on the ski hill ski or the ski hill, yeah, yeah yeah, it's been great doing some skiing out here on the east coast. East coast skiing, though it's a little different than you know the powder that you get out West. Of course, being from North Dakota, we would typically we would sometimes do like Lutzen, which is in Minnesota, but we would usually drive like all the way to Montana and, of course, do like Red Lodge and Big Sky and that's where the really good skiing is that's so crazy?
Speaker 2:because you know I grew up not skiing at all. You've obviously grown up skiing, so watching me ski this past week has been kind of funny, huh.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, you know you're getting the hang of it. We did throw you down that mountain in Wyoming a few years ago, guys almost died.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm glad to be here. Let's just say that I think that actually so.
Speaker 3:In Virginia, where we currently live, the skiing is not good, just the climate is just not. We don't get good snow anymore, and I mean with like climate change, like the snow is less and less every year. But up in the Catskills I feel like the mountains aren't too intense but they get enough snow and I feel like they're really good mountains to learn how to ski on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this for for Christmas. This year we spend time up at Kendrick Piper's house up in the Catskills. We all went up there for Christmas and we did some skiing. Um, and you know I did, okay, I skied one day. They skied like two, two or three days. They were out there skiing but yeah, the powder's different on, I guess, on the east coast compared to how it was in Jackson Hole, for sure. Um, and you know, I, uh, you know I'm 38 years old, 37, almost 38, and my body is just kind of feeling a little weary on those skis going down that mountain.
Speaker 2:So you're still so young, so I just don't know why age is even a question well, you know, my background in sports has kind of broken down my body a little bit.
Speaker 3:It just feels it should help you, although this man the other day tried to tell me before we went skiing that skiing is not a workout and I don't think it's like a super, like high intensity cardiovascular workout, but I'm usually sore after I ski if I haven't skied that year yet. So it's like more of a strength because, like you're kind of in a squat position, like it's a lot of leg strength and like obliques, I feel like I don't.
Speaker 2:I'm not discounting it as a workout. I mean for me I feel like cross country skiing when you're actually having to use cardio, yeah that's more cardio, but like going down, like downhill skiing is more, more like it is muscles and strength, but it's more like just the movement. Right, it's just like I don't know. It didn't feel like a really workout to me not carrying those skis around I'm sorry, going down the bunny hill is not a workout maybe that's what it was.
Speaker 2:I was going down the bunny hill, right. Well, anyway, we had a great time up in new New York for Christmas. I hope you guys all had a great Christmas Again. I'm Maurice Covington and I'm glad to be on here today. I also executive produced this radio show. Have been doing so since 2001 now 2001?. I mean, I'm sorry, 2021.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, I was like yeah, I don't think so Is it?
Speaker 2:2021?, so it'd be almost four years.
Speaker 3:We started in 2021, right after COVID, so we're coming up on the fourth year. Coming up on the fourth year. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it's been an awesome ride. As you guys may have noticed, recently Kevin has kind of taken a step back and some of the other staff and agents and brokers and auctioneers within the company have stepped up to help host the show. So you guys may have heard from Jack Pfeiffer, who is now the co-CEO of Pfeiffer's he stepped in, him and Christian Miller or Miller, I'm sorry, he's an auctioneer those two have stepped in to help host the show. You may have also heard from Jim Sabby. Jim Sabby was on the show last week. He does a great job. Jim's been with the company I think he said for 18 years now and Jim works on the equipment side and Jim does an awesome job for Piper's. And you've also probably heard from Steve Link, who's the broker at Piper's. So we have a lot of guys to open. I can't forget Andy Murneck. Andy's going to kill me. Andy's a great auctioneer. He's down in with the Bowman area babe yeah.
Speaker 2:Bowman, yeah, down in the Bowman area out West and he does a great job for Piper. So we're we're transitioning, transitioning the show a little bit here. So you guys are going to see a different structure. We have, I guess, five great Piper staff members that have agreed to kind of take on the show for the next year and I know you guys have kind of listened to those episodes over the last few months here and got to kind of get to know them and hear more about their stories and kind of talk more about what their interests are. So it's going to be fun, we're excited about it. We're bringing some new energy, new perspective to the program and we think it'll be good for Pifers. And again, if you guys want to reach any of those guys, you can find them on piferscom. You can also give them a call. The number's located on the website as well. So we're excited about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it's going to be really fun to have different people come in and host the show, because they all have obviously different backgrounds. They all kind of work throughout the state in different areas as well. So, yeah, like you said, bringing in fresh perspectives, different parts of the business, different parts of the agriculture business and the auctioneering process and all of the things, and different ages too.
Speaker 3:You know we've got a couple different couple young guys, couple guys that have been around for a while, so I think it's going to be a really cool thing, so just something to look forward to. Every week will be hosted by somebody different, so look forward to that and it's.
Speaker 2:It's fun because I mean, sitting behind this microphone is is not as easy as people may think. It is right, it's kind of a little nerve wracking and it's kind of cool to see get these Germans perspectives but also kind of see them come out of their shell and you get to hear more about them and learn more about who they are and, like Carolyn was saying, just different perspectives and you have Jack and Christian who are the younger generation, so you get to hear more about things they're interested in and people and their peers, yeah, and they also get to choose.
Speaker 3:You know who's coming on as a guest. Like most of these guests are not sponsored at all, so it's like them genuinely wanting to reach out to people in the community. What are people talking about right now? What are people interested in? What can they learn? And finding those people or it's just people that they've really enjoyed working with, that feel like they can provide something really insightful to our listeners and the audience, and so, yeah, I think that they've done a great job of curating different guests.
Speaker 2:They have, they have and you also see some other things starting to change as the year unfolds. We're trying to really revamp the show a bit. Bring more energy, do some more marketing, more push behind it, because we want to reach all you guys. This is great information for farmers, ranchers, people in the agricultural business, obviously, but also people who are in the real estate industry. I mean this is a lot of great information, a wealth of information, and I know at Pfeiffer's they always say if you educate the market, you dominate the market.
Speaker 2:So educating is key, it's important and we want to continue pushing that out there. And also I know I mean we've gotten a lot of feedback on this show and we know that you guys all love hear from Carolyn the American wine girl.
Speaker 3:Oh, thanks guys.
Speaker 2:I'll try to get her on when I can. It's very true. I mean I heard it from your dad, who said people have called him and said that but people have actually told me that too, so I was like wow, okay.
Speaker 3:Sometimes we need to break it up and, you know, talk about some different things, like wine, of course.
Speaker 2:Well, and there's a lot of men on the show all the time, but it's good to hit the female perspective too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's some female guests, but yeah, we could mix in some more ladies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Are you going to agree to come on a few more times next year, maybe?
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, I'm always on a few times throughout the year, so that won't change.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so yeah, we're looking forward to that and we really encourage you guys, if you have questions or you want to hear about certain topics, to please reach out and let us know. I think you can reach us on our social media page, which is the America's Land Auctioneer, on Instagram and Facebook, and you can also call Pifers and reach out to any of their agents. I believe their numbers are listed on the website. Their emails are listed on the website, so it's easy to get ahold of us. We would love to kind of give you guys topics that you know you're interested in and what you want to hear about.
Speaker 3:You guys can go to pyferscom.
Speaker 2:You can also email info at pyferscom, or the phone number is 1-877-700-4099.
Speaker 3:There you go, carolyn. Thank you for the information, and don't forget that all of these episodes that we have every single week are also on the podcast platforms. We've got Apple Podcasts, spotify. Just look up America's Land Auctioneer. We have what?
Speaker 3:over a hundred hundreds over a hundred episodes 180 episodes with really, really great guests that we've had in the past and you know a lot of this content and information is evergreen that we're talking about, so of course, we talk about things that are going on, current events, but you know a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 2:as far as the education aspect stays the same, Absolutely for sure, and so coming up next, we're gonna talk more about what's happening with Pifers next year, but before we wrap up this segment, I do wanna thank our sponsors at Pifers they're Realty Land Auctioneers and all their staff there for sponsoring this show each and every Saturday. This show would not be possible if it wasn't for Pifers, so please thank you guys for doing that, and also Carolyn can you read off that information on how to contact any of those auctioneers?
Speaker 3:Yes, we've got Piper's Auctions and Land Management info at piperscom. If you want to email, or you can call at 1-877-740-99. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 2:We'll be right back after this break good morning and welcome back to the america's land auctioneer radio show. I am your host, maurice covington, joined by my beautiful wife carolyn pifer covington hey, everybody yeah, thanks for being here. We appreciate it. Um. So last segment guys, we kind of just talked about, you know, the new structure, um of the, the show and the, the new host that we'll be having on, so we're definitely excited about that. And, um, I also mentioned that you know, this upcoming year, something exciting is happening for Piper's.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 2:It is. This upcoming year will be Piper's 25th year anniversary, wow. It's crazy 25 years, you know.
Speaker 3:That's a quarter of a century.
Speaker 2:Babe, I mean, and you've been alive.
Speaker 3:You've been alive, you've watched the company grow Us entering in 2025 means that I'm about to be 30.
Speaker 2:You're about to be. So you were what? Four and a half when they started the company? Yeah, Four and a half. Five, Five, going on five.
Speaker 3:Started in 2000. So I remember when my dad started the company and you know, obviously I was young, I don't remember everything, but I remember he worked very hard and he would come home and he would like put all of us to work at the dining room table and he would have, like me, my brother, my sister, like stuffing envelopes, putting stamps on things, like sending out, you know, like catalogs or flyers or whatever to, you know, potential clients, I guess. So, um, I've been a part of it since day one.
Speaker 2:Can you believe that it's grown to the magnitude it's grown to today?
Speaker 3:It's pretty cool. It's pretty awesome. I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't think my five-year-old self Well, I mean five, even like at 10 or 15, like did you foresee this? It's pretty awesome. I mean, I don't know, I don't think my five-year-old self Well, I mean five, even like at 10 or 15. Like, did you see it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, because you know, my dad has always been such a hard worker and he will do whatever it takes to make something work and be successful. And he goes about business in the right way, especially in a business like this, when you're, you know, talking about people's biggest purchases of their life or you know, farm estates or things like that that are like really yeah, and like really important in families, like it's really important to like be good at business but do good and like be a trustworthy, like good person, and I think that he's also built up a really good team that does a good job with that. So, yeah, it's just all you know. Over the years, he's curated a really good team and it's great.
Speaker 2:It's been. It's been also the kind of awesome to kind of hear about the stories you know. And Kevin, you know, I talked to him about you know how the company got started, and he said this was like back in I think he said 1999 or 2000,. One of those years it might have been late 2000 or yeah, but anyway, he said he came home one day and he met with his brother, pete, for dinner and Pete said you know, kevin, you know if you could do anything with the rest of your life, what would it be? He said, well, I want to start an auction company and thing with the rest of your life. What would it be? He said, well, I want to start an auction company. And then Pete said, well, let's do it, let's start it. He said the very next day they went and filed the paperwork and started Piper's Auction and Realty.
Speaker 2:I just think that's such a cool story because it just, you know, it happened and it was like a you know, they were sitting at dinner and they made a decision to make it happen. And here we are, 25 years later and he's built this awesome team across what? Five, six states now, including Arizona, and a number of staff members and a number of real estate agents. It's just amazing to see. So the 25th year anniversary is next year and I know you and the marketing team and Kevin have been working on a number of cool things to come this year. Can you share any insight on what you guys are planning yet, or is that still kind of in the works?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, you know, we just want to have little celebrations throughout the year to, you know, say thank you to all of our clients and people who have been a part of the company along the way. So you know, things that we look forward to every year, like the Arizona Land Seminars that are happening in March Um, we'll be hopefully planning something around that, um, or at least you know, just like little gatherings at some of the bigger auctions that happen throughout the year. There's a few big equipment auctions out in Bowman. We'll try to do something, uh, um, and yeah, we want to kind of scatter it out, so it's not all just happening like at one location. But yeah, and we'll have, you know, some fun 25th anniversary swag and maybe some giveaways and yeah, just like client or staff spotlights and things like that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, we just want to celebrate it throughout the year because it is a big deal and you should celebrate things like that well, I mean, it's a huge deal and I'm happy to be privy to some of those emails and you know you're going back and forth on like the logo and how it should look. I mean this is, this is important, like people like Kevin is, like we got to get this right. So it's kind of cool to watch this all come to fruition and come together and I'm really excited for what's to come and I'm excited for your brother, jack too, which he's just made that announcement publicly that he'll be stepping in as the co-CEO into another role.
Speaker 2:And you know he's been working on your dad now for four years and working with the company and he's done a lot of different roles and people speak very highly of him and you know you kind of see like the natural succession is he. You know how do you feel like your brother's, your baby brother, is like doing his thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm very proud of Jack and I think that he'll do a great job, so it's very exciting. Yeah, 2025 is going to be a great year. Lots to look forward to.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely Now. So Kevin, also to Kevin, starting, as y'all told you guys, with the radio show, he's starting to take a step back, so we'll be having just kind of a small transition here and I hope you guys are you'll stick around and listen and support us as we transition and introduce the new team members who will be hosting the show and who will be bringing in new guests. And, as I said in segment one, I want you guys to, if you have people in mind that you want to hear from or topics you want to discuss, to please reach out. We have given that information out, but also it's on Pifers dot com. You can reach out to any of their agents and then also the toll free numbers on the website as well, and then you can reach us on Instagram and Facebook at the America's Land Auctioneer as well.
Speaker 2:So, exciting things and it works.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely Good job, maurice, behind the scenes keeping it all going.
Speaker 2:Hey, I'm just trying to contribute where I can, right, I'm just trying to help grow the brand and contribute and support, uh, what you know, what your dad has built over at pyfers, because I truly do respect it and, um, I learn a lot from those, uh, those agents and the staff every day. Um, and it's been cool. It's been cool to work with the team, so I'm excited to to see it grow yeah, aren't you making a trip to fargo soon? I am. I'm actually heading to Fargo January 6th for a few days.
Speaker 2:So I'm heading to Fargo because I'm going to actually set up. This is funny. So I'm going to because our agents that will be hosting the show they're kind of all over the state. I mean some are out in Western North Dakota and then some are kind of back on the eastern side. But I am going to be heading down to Fargo to help set up an in-house studio for podcasting and recording the radio show. So I'll be down there early in January and you know I'll meet with the team and we'll get some things set up. And that's exciting. I mean we're creating our own space.
Speaker 3:I think that'll be really cool.
Speaker 2:I do too, it's about time too.
Speaker 3:It's like you know, they do a show every single week, so I think it'll be nice to have something in house make it a little easier.
Speaker 2:It'll definitely be a working process and like, listen guys, this is like I'm in real estate. You know, as you guys, I've been on a show before. I work for Start to Be's here on the East Coast. So the radio production side of it is all learned. It's all a learning process. So I'm excited to. I've been researching and watching YouTube videos on how to properly set up a podcast studio inside the Pfeiffer's headquarters there. So it is going to be a learning process, it's going to be fun. I think it's going to take time to really curate the space to make it feel like home for the uh, for the agents who will be in there hosting the show. But it would be an exciting process and we'll have it kind of like.
Speaker 3:you know, I don't know Piper's blue, you know nice couches, you know kind of like oh my gosh, you're going to make it like that, like a podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm going to eventually. My goal is to make it very like cozy and warm and make it feel like somewhere the guys want to go hang out and talk about what's going on in the industry.
Speaker 3:Oh cool, so that's my goal. That's a really good idea. Thank you. Do you need help?
Speaker 2:I do. I wanted you to come. I wanted you to come with me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, going to Fargo in January is a little tough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's cold, it's cold.
Speaker 3:Well, maybe I can convince you, but I also am just starting a really big thing for my business as well, so I am a little bit tied up.
Speaker 2:We might need to get into a little bit more about your business in this segment.
Speaker 3:Well, my education. I guess not really my business, but it's all part of your business.
Speaker 2:It's all part of your business. But again, guys, I have been your guest host here, Maurice Covington, and joined by my lovely wife, Carolyn Piper Covington. We are hosting the show today. Thank you for joining us. We're going to take a quick Land Auctioneer radio show. I am your guest host today, Maurice Covington, joined by my lovely wife, Carolyn Pfeiffer Covington.
Speaker 3:Hey guys, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2:Yes, welcome back. So, guys, thank you again for joining us. I know it's like the holiday weekend. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I know we did. So far.
Speaker 2:We've kind of talked about the show and the direction it's going, with the new Pifers team members hosting the show and how excited we are for that, and the transition of a new studio and things like that. And then also Pifers 25th year anniversary is coming up this year, so we are super excited for that. The team has been planning for that and the different events and things that are going to be happening around that throughout the year. So please stay tuned. A lot of fun and exciting things to come, so stay tuned. Next, I kind of want to jump into more of some. I'm here with the American Wine Girl, so obviously we have to talk wine and wine trends and what's going on in her industry. So I want to just touch base with you, carolyn. You know, just kind of talk about, you know, what's going on in the wine world, anything you want to kind of just touch base on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, first, I would like to start off by talking about sparkling wines, because we're approaching New Year's. Oh yeah, so this is the season for all things sparkling wine. I don't know. What do people want to know? I guess I could talk a little bit about, like champagne alternatives, because obviously, if you have champagne, which is my preferred beverage, champagne. Because a lot of these people are either big co-ops or negociants and they hire growers to grow the grapes and then buy those grapes and make their wines that way.
Speaker 3:So I always like to look for grower champagnes. Some of my favorites, if anyone is curious, is Berrache, fille or Pierre Payard. Honestly, I have a whole list. So just follow me on Instagram at Carolyn Coving, because I'll be posting my recommendations for sparkling wines for New Year's, so that is something I'm really excited about. But if you are looking to save more money now, I will say champagne to me is worth the price tag if we're talking like the 50-60 dollar range up to like a hundred. Now I have spent more than that on a bottle with certain special, special bottles. I do believe it's worth it, but do I believe believe in spending like $500 on like?
Speaker 2:Go big or go home.
Speaker 3:On like a what's like a really like a Dom Perignon Like no. I definitely don't. I actually think there's way better options out there. So, but again, like you can also find amazing, I want to back you up right there.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, I'm so sorry. Don't get mad at me, dom perignon, because people think very highly of that. Who don't know? I mean great, it's a great brand, it's a great champagne. But there are other alternatives, more affordable alternatives that are just as good or better as a dom perignon, but people don't really know about some of those things are like it's all about um, like the name, right, like veuve clico.
Speaker 3:Like you buy a Vov Clico for what? Like 60, $70. But there are other grower champagnes out there for the exact same price that I think are actually going to be much better, but that it just requires time, and you know you have to be interested in learning about it and looking for that. Um, and the issue too is like things just aren't widely distributed. Like our three tier system in the US for distributing wines makes it really difficult for people like growers and small producers to get their wines into all of our states. And so, and I know, the Midwest, unfortunately like is kind of on the back burner in terms of like getting a lot of those wines, like fargo, I love you, but there's not. There's so many wine producers I love you can't even really find them why is that?
Speaker 2:um distribution, and I think you know just supply and demand, of course.
Speaker 3:It just it's just um, I don't know. I think you know things kind of trickle in that way later on and I always shop on winecom and I believe like North Dakota, minnesota, you can pretty much ship any wine you want there. So that's where I get a lot of my wines. So if you like see any recommendations that I might have, you can typically find it on winecom, like Champagne Laurent Perrier. I know one of my friends actually she lives in Fargo and she was upset because uh, the laurent perrier rose was not available in anywhere in fargo and I was like, oh, look on minecom, and I even looked it up and made sure it could ship to fargo and it could. Um, so just things like that. Like sometimes you just maybe have to have it shipped to you. I do believe Costco has a pretty good selection. Can you buy wine at Costco in Fargo?
Speaker 2:I don't know about Fargo. Here you can, I think you actually.
Speaker 3:I think you can buy liquor there too, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:Cause you know every state. Again, it's hard because every state has their regulations. I think you can actually buy liquor at the Costco in Fargo but, like here in Virginia, you can only buy wine or buy wine or beer wine or beer. But you can't. You have to buy all your liquor in Virginia from an ABC store Like that to me was so foreign. When I moved to Virginia I was like what the heck is an ABC store?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and then it was like the difference from going from like North Dakota, where you go to a grocery store you can't buy any wine or beer.
Speaker 2:To Minnesota.
Speaker 3:To Minnesota, where you can buy wine and beer in Target. It was like what.
Speaker 3:I'm so confused. So yeah, obviously. So that's like kind of one thing that I think just makes it harder in general. But back to our topic of sparkling wines Some really good alternatives to champagne. Are you have Cremant to Champagne? Are you have Cremant? Cremant are traditional method sparkling wines made in the same way that Champagne is produced in other regions of France. So you have Cremant d'Alsace, you have Cremant de Bourgogne, you have Cremant de Limoux, cremant de Bordeaux. So these are all going to be really good quality sparkling wines, traditional method sparkling wines made in the champagne method, but they're going to be like twenty thirty dollars versus like sixty dollars. So really good deals there. Other ones of course you have Prosecco, but that's not going to be made in the same way. So if you're looking for something with that more complexity and bread, brioche, pastrino, you know, lemon like fine bubbles you have Cava from Spain that you could look for. This is another one that's probably hard to find, but you can probably find some on winecom.
Speaker 3:It would be Cap Classique, which is traditional method sparkling wine from South Africa, which we love, Of course. You have sparkling wine from California, which can be pretty good if you get it from like Carneros. So you have like Schramsberg is a great brand out there and there's quite a few other ones.
Speaker 2:The one that we had too. I mean, I hate to switch gears a little bit here, but there's wine, not wine, but sparkling wine, champagne, alternatives for people who don't drink too right, so like if you're hosting an event or now it's the holidays.
Speaker 3:There's just like non-alcoholic wines.
Speaker 2:Non-alcoholic wine. Well, yeah, and I think I mean you got to try it. I didn't try it, but you said it tasted pretty similar.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there are a lot of non-alcoholic wines out there now or alcohol removed wines, which I think is actually becoming much more popular than non-alcoholic. So there's two different things you have a non-alcoholic wine and then you have an alcohol removed wine. They say that an alcohol removed wine tastes more like wine and kind of keeps the quality of like what the wine should be more intact than, um, just a non-alcoholic wine, Cause a non-alcoholic wine tends to take taste more like juice which if you like sweeter things and stuff like, then that's fine, um, but I did recently try a really good sparkling wine from 90 plus sellers that was alcohol removed and I was like this is great, like for dry.
Speaker 3:January or something, or if anyone just doesn't want to drink for some reason, like there are some really good alternatives.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I mean, I know one year when we had all the family over for the holidays, we brought out the saber.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, that's a fun activity.
Speaker 2:Part of a fun activity we did was have everybody kind of yeah, kind of go.
Speaker 3:I mean that was so much fun. That's a good recommendation for people to do too. It is. I have links. You guys go to my amazon storefront. Um, seriously, and I was saying that this is a great gift as well for anyone that loves sparkling wine or anyone that likes to host and like, have a good time, host people at their house.
Speaker 3:Getting a champagne saber um is really such a fun activity. There's like some really cute, nice ones on Amazon for like 30 bucks and it comes in like a wooden case and it's just, you know, a big saber knife that you take off the top of your sparkling wine. I should do a video on how to do that.
Speaker 2:You should. I mean we had the whole family do it.
Speaker 3:I'll make like a little how-to video and post it.
Speaker 2:Granted, you may waste a couple bottles of champagne, or I'm not.
Speaker 3:No, I'll use some old.
Speaker 2:Did we drink the last time or no? No, I used like old ones, old like that, quality ones.
Speaker 3:And then we like dumped it all out.
Speaker 2:Your dad had so much fun doing that.
Speaker 3:However, like you can do it to a nice bottle and like, do it in a way where you don't lose a lot of the wine, like I. Just I don't want to waste a drop of my nice champagne. So I don't usually do it, but it's fun If you have like a, you know a Prosecco bottle or something you don't really care much about, Like yeah, just do it, it's so fun like, yeah, just do it, it's so fun.
Speaker 2:Who do you think had the most fun doing that sabering? I think my dad, because once he learned, how to do it.
Speaker 3:And then he was like, so hyped for everyone else and like so encouraging like, oh, you got this. Okay, that happened to me too. Don't get discouraged like it was so cute yeah I am gonna bring that yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's a fun family thing to do over the holiday, guys. Good tip, definitely do that for New Year's. For New Year's yeah.
Speaker 3:Order a saber off Amazon and be safe. Obviously they're not sharp, but just obviously you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are pretty dull Adults only Be safe.
Speaker 2:Absolutely All right, guys. We're coming up at the end of the segment Again. Maurice Covington here, joined by my lovely little wife, carolyn Pifer Covington, also known as the American Wine Girl, and we're stepping in today to host the show. Thanks again to our sponsors at Pifer's Auction and Realty and Land Management for sponsoring this show every single Saturday. This show would not be possible if it wasn't for the team at Pifers, the auction and realty team, the land management team and all their agents and staff. Thank you so much, guys. I hope you guys are having a great holiday weekend. We will be right back after this break.
Speaker 1:We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back, We'll be right back. We Right there, get merged just straight by.
Speaker 3:Welcome back to America's Land Auctioneer radio show and podcast. I'm Carolyn Covington, one of your hosts for today, and I am joined by my husband, maurice Covington.
Speaker 2:Glad to be here. How's everybody doing?
Speaker 3:Thank you guys so much for tuning in today. We are already nearing the end of the show, but I just wanted to say a quick shout out to Pifers for having us on. It's been really fun to fill in. Hopefully we'll get to do this a few more times in 2025, but thank you to Piper's land auction and management.
Speaker 2:Sorry to notice land auction realty. No land management and auction realty. I messed up those words.
Speaker 3:Thank you to Piper's Piper'scom. If you guys ever have any questions about their services and what they can do for you, visit Piper'scom. You can email at info at Piper'scom and then their phone number is 1-877-700-4099 yes um. So we are in our last segment we are. Yeah, just to recap real quick it is almost the new year, so I feel like we should talk about like things we are looking forward to in the new year. Okay, uh, things coming up, I don't know.
Speaker 2:That sounds amazing. I mean that sounds great to me. Trends, trends in our industries, Trends that are happening.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely, I mean we don't have much time, so like, let's get into it.
Speaker 2:Let's get right into it.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm going to start because I just want to give everyone a little update on me. Some of our listeners, um, and something that's really always been important to me is my education, and so I am in my WSET diploma currently and I'm fine I am on my last leg of this, uh, three year program which I've been doing. So I have a four month really intensive course I'm taking which is essentially just focusing on wines of the world. Yeah, that's the topic. It's a big one, and my exam is mid-May. And then I also have a research paper I've been working on which is all about the Virginia wine industry, which is really interesting, and that is due here in a couple of weeks, at the end of January. So, yeah, some things that are happening with my education, which is really exciting. So that's my little update. And how about you? Do you have an update for people?
Speaker 2:My update is that I am and I'm not scared to talk about this because I'm going to make it happen but I am in the middle currently in the middle of getting my broker's license license and it's just been a lot of like coursework and studying and I've been moving through it but I haven't been able to kind of consistently push through it because I've been busy with work. I am a actual realtor who's doing work, so that kind of takes up most of my time. But I plan to have it finished by February of 2025, so I'll have my broker's license.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think come you know know, January, February we're both going to be in some full on study mode. But that's good, you know, you have phases where you go.
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny because you know I was talking to your brother at Thanksgiving. I was like, yeah, I plan to have it done, my broker's license. Well, no, by February 2025, I want to go and take my final test. But then now, as I sit here, you know I've had a busy week with clients and then I've gained a few clients who want to start shopping for homes.
Speaker 3:You can do it all. You can do this.
Speaker 2:You can, but, guys, you know, it's just it's just about making the time right. It is about making the time.
Speaker 3:And we will.
Speaker 2:I got it no-transcript.
Speaker 3:it's hard for me to be in both modes you need to like, just I think, and both of us, like evenings, need to be more dedicated to like study time than like watching tv well, my evenings are dedicated to my family, my wife okay, well, I'm gonna be, I'm going to be studying, so what are you going? To do Okay.
Speaker 3:I want to talk a little bit about some drink trends. So I saw this on Vine Pair. It's an account I follow on their Instagram and they have, like this drink trends, a little snippet that they posted and of course, I focus on wine, but I just thought this was interesting, so I kind of wanted to go through some of them and also see what you think. It's not just on wine. So one of them is that Guinness is going to be huge Now. This past year, guinness kind of started yeah.
Speaker 3:Guinness kind of started to like blow up a little bit, but their prediction is that it's going to get even bigger with like brand collaborations and like being poured at sporting events and like sponsorship things this coming year. So that's going to just be interesting to look for. I can kind of see it.
Speaker 2:Do you like Guinness?
Speaker 3:No, but I am willing to try it again because I hear that it's like not bad for you in terms of like beer Sorry, not bad for you in terms of beer and like something about how it doesn't like bloat you, like other beers does. Yeah, I've heard there's like some great things about guinness, so I'm willing to try it and split the g. Okay, do you know what that means?
Speaker 2:no, what does that mean?
Speaker 3:you don't know what split the g means split the g mo are you joking?
Speaker 2:no, I'm not. What does that mean I?
Speaker 3:actually recently learned what this means. So how are?
Speaker 2:you going to get on me about not knowing what it means if you don't?
Speaker 3:You just learned Because you're like nine years older than me and I don't even drink Guinness and I know what split.
Speaker 2:G means I don't drink Guinness either.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, Okay. So like I'm going to explain this really quickly. So you have your cup of Guinness and then you have the Guinness logo and it says Guinness on it. Okay, and then you have the G. Now you're this. It's like this for a few inches from the top, where you have the G and they say your first sip of your Guinness, you have to split the G. So you have to gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp gulp stop and try to split the G.
Speaker 2:Okay, never heard of it, but yeah, okay, that's like how you drink a Guinness. Who told you that?
Speaker 3:I just learned it.
Speaker 2:You read about it. No, I learned it.
Speaker 3:Okay, so that's one thing.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:What else is interesting? Oh sake I don't know if people are interested in sake, but of course it's that Japanese rice wine and they're saying that it's going to break away from Japanese cuisine and become a little bit more mainstream in other restaurants which.
Speaker 2:I think would be really cool. I think would be really cool.
Speaker 3:It's starting to kind of do that and I could see that, because I could see how sake is really good with food pairing for just other cuisines other than just sushi, and I personally love sake.
Speaker 2:So that's how we had sake at that restaurant. I kind of had a little buzz.
Speaker 3:I would be excited for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's strong, but that would be fun. Another trend this is for wine. White wine continues to be on the rise, um, and people are gravitating toward the lighter, lower ABV counterpart, which is white wine, obviously in the in the realm of wine, um, so I could say that I've actually been more off on a white wine kick this entire past year than I ever have before.
Speaker 3:Um even in the winter it's. I'm like, oh, I think I just want to wait, and I don't know if it's just because it is lighter and maybe lower alcohol that that's just more appealing to me Sometimes, those Napa cabs that are like 15% ABV, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a lot. Um, okay, the last one. This is interesting that you might find um interesting fine dining takes on shots. So their expectation is that fine dining spots will embrace the more playful nature of shooters. Um, and so that like it's a more of an experience for fancy restaurants to have fun with like little shots.
Speaker 2:It's not just like a dive bar thing so fine dining restaurants takes on shots takes on, so it makes them more, just kind of like a part of the experience.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like a playful nature thing of course I. I think it'd be more of like a shooter, but yeah, I could see that okay interesting.
Speaker 2:Looking forward to those trends. Let's see. I have to try that guinness one my, yeah, the.
Speaker 3:My other prediction, too, is the non-alcoholic continuing to be on the rise. The non or the alcohol removed. Um, of course, like you have all of it beers, mocktails, and then alcohol removed wines I can see so interesting.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for that we shall see, yeah that's awesome.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Well, guys, we're coming up on the end of our segment. Um, we want to thank you so much for being with us this morning. Um, on your favorite radio station, but also on Apple and Spotify. Here, once again, we recapped the new format for the show, which includes a lot of different you know staff from the company brokers, other auctioneers so we're excited about that and then also be on the lookout for Piper's 25th year anniversary happenings and things that are going on. We are very, very excited about that as well. We thank you guys for being so, so supportive and sticking here and listening to our episode every single Saturday. We also want to thank the team over at Piper's Auction and Realty and Piper's Land Management for sponsoring this show every single Saturday. This wouldn't be possible without you guys, so thank you so much. We hope everyone had a great Christmas. We hope everybody has a great weekend and a great New Year's. Happy New Year, caroline. Anything else you want to say before we sign off?
Speaker 3:No, just thank you guys so much for tuning in and supporting this year and we look forward to many more great episodes and moments in 2025.
Speaker 2:Yes, guys, cheers. Happy New Year's.